Container with tear strip opener



July 20, 1965 A. COTE 3,195,800

CONTAINER WITH TEAR STRIP OPENER Filed D60. 23, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. f 23 25X (27 RAYMOND A. COTE BY m l5 3| 29 ATTORNEY July 20, 1965 R. A. COTE CONTAINER WITH TEAR STRIP OPENER 2 Sheets-Sheet '2 I Filed Dec. 25. 1963 INVENTOR.

RAYMONQ A. COTE ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,195,800 CONTAINER WITH TEAR STRIP OPENER Raymond A. Cote, Metuchen, N.J., assignor to International Paper Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Dec. 23, 1963, Ser. No. 332,392 1 Claim. (Cl. 229-51) The invention relates to folding car-tons. More particularly, it relates to a folding carton adapted to be loaded in a single operation at its ends and emptied intermittently upon the opening and reclosing of its lid or cover.

The carton or container of the present invention is particularly suitable for use by manufacturers of anything from bakery goods to articles of personal hygiene. For, it can be filled swiftly at an end by automatic means involving a ram or the like when the box has been partially erected and is held together only by a manufacturers joint provided by the box maker. And, once it is filled and closed, it is provided both with convenient opening means and with a reclosable lid which has elements that nest snugly within the carton to prevent accidental lid openings and that afford stout carton corner structures to prevent undue crushing of the carton contents. For a better understanding of the present invention, reference should be had to the attached drawings in which- FIGURE 1 shows a plan view of a blank of a folding carton made in accordance with the present invention;

FIGURE 2 shows a side view of the carton formed from the blank of FIGURE 1, taken along line 22 of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 3 shows a plan view of the carton formed from the blank of FIGURE 1, taken along line 33 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 shows an isometric view of a carton formed from the blank of FIGURE 1 and closed as when loaded or filled (with the operation of the tear strip means of the carton also being shown); and,

FIGURE 5 shows an isometric view of the carton of FIGURE 4 with its reclosable lid or cover lifted.

FIGURE 1 depicts a substantially rectangular blank for a folding carton which is in accordance with the present invention and, preferably, die cut from bleached paperboard. The blank is comprised of several panels and flaps which are defined by longitudinal and lateral fold or scorelines impressed on the blank before or during the die cutting. Thus, there are cover front panel 11, cover top panel 12, back panel 13, base bottom panel 14, base front panel 15, and sealing flap 16, all separated from each other by lateral scorelines 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21. And there are cover end tabs 22 and 23, cover end flaps 24 and 25, back tabs 26 and 27, bottom end flaps 28 and 29, and front tabs 30 and 31, all separated from the larger panels by longitudinal scorelines 32 and 33. FIGURE 1 shows the provision of a laterally disposed tear strip means, as well as a laterally disposed area of pre-printed adhesive 34 on sealing flap 16. These means consist of a parallel pair of lines of perforation or cuts 35 and 36, one of which generally overlies scoreline 21.

In FIGURE 2, blank 10 is folded to form a partially erected carton which is open at the ends, but closed at the front, where a manufacturers joint is formed when pre-printed adhesive area 34 is brought into contact with the upper, outer surface of cover top panel 12. Cover top panel 12 and base bottom panel 14 are seen to lie Patented July 20, 1965 parallelly to each other, while cover front panel 11, back panel 13, and base front panel 15 lie parallelly to each other and perpendicularly to panels 12 and 14. Such carton is ready to be loaded at and through either or both of the open ends.

FIGURE 3 shows the carton of FIGURE 2 with its ends closed. It makes clear that, in the process of fully closing the box, end flaps 24 and 25 are first folded to lie perpendicularly to cover top panel 12 across such ends. Then, tabs 22, 23, 26, 27, 30, and 31 are all folded to lie perpendicularly to the panels from which they depend and against, or parallel to, the outwardly disposed surfaces of end flaps 24 and 25. Tabs 22, 23, 26, and 27 are simultaneously fastened, e.g., glued or pasted, to the outer surfaces of such flaps. Finally, bottom end flaps 28 and 29 are folded to lie perpendicularly to base bottom panel 14 and are simultaneously glued or pasted or otherwise fastened to the outer surfaces of tabs 30 and 31.

FIGURES 4 and 5 depict the removal of the tear strip provided by lines of cuts 35 and 36 and the lifting of the reclosable lid of the carton of FIGURES 2 and 3. The lid can of course be re-positioned to close the box.

What is claimed is:

An article of manufacture comprising an end-loading, reclosable carton formed from a substantially rectangular one-piece blank having a cover front panel, a cover top panel hingedly connected along a first lateral fold line to the cover front panel, a back panel hingedly connected along a second lateral fold line to the cover top panel, a base bottom panel hingedly connected along a third lateral fold line to the back panel, a base front panel hingedly connected along a fourth lateral fold line to the base bottom panel, a sealing flap hingedly connected along a fifth lateral fold line to the base front panel, laterally disposed tear strip means in the sealing flap, a laterally disposed area of pre-printed adhesive on the sealing flap, cover end tabs hingedly connected along longitudinal fold lines to the cover front panel, cover end flaps hingedly connected along the longitudinal fold lines to the cover top panel, back tabs hingedly connected along the longitudinal fold lines to the back panel, bottom end flaps hingedly connected along the longitudinal fold lines to the base bottom panel, and front tabs hingedly connected along the longitudinal fold lines to the base front panel and wherein the cover front panel lies perpendicularly to the cover top panel, the cover top panel lies perpendicularly to the back panel, the back panel lies perpendicularly to the base bottom panel, the base bottom panel lies perpendicularly to the base front panel, the base front panel lies perpendicularly to the sealing flap outwardly of the cover front panel, the sealing flap lies parallelly to the cover top panel, the tear strip means in the sealing flap is disposed over the top cover panel with portions thereof overl ing the line of intersection of the top cover panel and the cover front panel and with other portions thereof extending inwardly from the line of intersection to the laterally disposed area of pro-printed adhesive on the sealing flap, the area of pre-printed adhesive on the sealing flap lies against the cover 3 7 4 tbpv panel and forms'a manufacturefs joint therewith, i References Cited by the Examine! .the cover end flaps .lie perpendlcularly to the cover 7 l V UNITED STATES PATENTS top panel, the cover end tabs he perpendlcularly to the cover front panel and are fastened to the cover 2'218509 10/40 Goodyeari v end flaps, the back tabsslie perpendicularly to the 5 2865549 12/58 'llnman "i 229 33 A back panel and are fastened to' the cover end flaps, 3O4O'957 Meyers s". 229*33 X the front tabs lie perpendicularly to the base front 11/63 tskowronskll 229-51 panel outwardly of the cover end tabs, the bottom end flaps lie perpendicularly to the base 'bottom JOSEPH A Primary Examiner panel and are fastened'to the front tabs. 7 r 10 FRANKLIN T. GARRETT, Examiner. 

